Despite losing five of his past six bouts, the only number that matters to 36-year-old Phil Baroni is two – a second chance in ONE Fighting Championship.

The fifth installment of the upstart Asian organization is a launching pad for the “New York Bad Ass” if everything goes the Long Island native’s way.

A UFC, PRIDE and Strikeforce veteran, Baroni’s resume features him on those world-class stages alongside key regional organizations that no longer exist (such England’s Cage Rage and Hawaii’s ICON Sport). A 3-2 stretch with three knockout victories and two decision defeats in PRIDE from 2005-2006 is one of the best times for the 11-year veteran. Defeating Rodrigo Ribeiro (9-9) on Friday in the Philippines – the event streams as an online pay-per-view – for his first ONE FC victory is the kind of PRIDE nostalgia that Baroni (14-15) desires in his 30th career bout. It’s a chance to erase his ONE FC debut loss this past September to Yoshiyuki Yoshida via unanimous decision.

“[One FC] is my one opportunity to get a world championship,” Baroni told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “The UFC kind of likes to phase out their old fighters. They don’t like older fighters. Obviously, I wasn’t successful there. My record is horrible there. … I’m happy in ONE FC. I think it’s going to be the new PRIDE. Of course, I hope.”

As a sub-.500 fighter, records don’t tell the whole story in his mind. There is a career resurrection at stake. What that means to the San Jose, Calif.-based fighter is the greatest opportunity a fighter has available: the chance not to be forgotten.

“I fought for the title in Strikeforce versus [Frank] Shamrock, and I came up short,” Baroni said. “I was in the grand prix twice, and I lost in Bushido-PRIDE. Twice, I was in elimination matches. If I had won against Evan Tanner, I would have fought for the world championship [in UFC]. He became champion. I’ve been close but no-cigar. Now at 36, I’m looking to overachieve and win a world championship before it’s said and done. I think ONE FC is the place to do it.”

Underestimating an opponent is one mistake; underestimating the organization is another. Baroni did both. Former training partner Josh Koscheck viciously knocked out Yoshida before. The result would be the same figured Baroni. After reading ONE FC’s rules online, the soccer kick and knees-to-a-downed opponent felt comfortably familiar, yet the magnitude of production surprised. The disappointment of falling short under those lights stung – as did an immediate shoulder surgery that was paid for with his show money. No excuses, but Baroni has been around long enough to recognize a series of miscues. Losing to Yoshida motivates him for a successful second appearance in ONE FC’s cage.

ONE FC’s long-term potential to revive the defunct PRIDE organization’s energy intrigued Baroni, which prompted him to understand he made a mistake upon entering the company. He insists he is a late bloomer, so a grand-prix run or opportunity for welterweight title eliminators to become ONE FC’s inaugural champion is important to Baroni. It’s his chance at a credible fighting legacy because he promises being the first in ONE FC will “mean something.” Chael Sonnen “sucked,” he said, but now he’s “easily one of the best in the world.” Chuck Liddell became a champion at 36 years old. These are the inspirational tidbits Baroni frames his mindset with to pull off the comeback he envisions. Reality is pressing when it reminds him that the second decade as a prizefighter is much shorter than the first.

“It sucks, but it is what it is,” he said. “I’m kinda forgotten. PRIDE’s dead, you know what I mean? I didn’t win a world title there either. I would like to win a world title. There’s Bellator. That’s good, but their business model isn’t for older fighters. They’re looking for up-and-coming fresh faces. That’s the name of the game right now. They’re looking for young kids. They don’t want to give old guys a chance anymore.”

A combination of feeling young and performing against the renowned fighters at American Kickboxing Academy is a far cry from the typical routines Baroni fell into throughout his earlier days. Drinking, hanging at the strip club, and gambling until there was no more, he would get back into fighting just long enough for camps and the resulting paychecks. Now he’s a full-time fighter with 12 weeks preparation to plead the case he’s not hanging them anytime soon. Baroni plans to ride out his career until the wheels fall off in the right kind of memorable fashion.

There is no delusion about being a Jon Jones or Liddell. Being entertaining, and more importantly, remembered, is a priority. If the rocky veteran, party-laden paths taught Baroni anything, it’s that fighting is an open-shut gate of an opponent. It’s a marathon against time.

“I’d like to maybe go out like (Mark) Coleman was remembered in PRIDE,” Baroni said. “He comes up from a bunch of losses. He [expletive] sucked it up and won the grand prix. He was the first champion of the organization. He was like the Royce Gracie of PRIDE, at least in my view. That’d be the best-case scenario.”

Every fighter should have a solid back-up plan, though. Baroni describes pro wrestling as an option. His teammate Muhammad Lawal’s joint Bellator and TNA Wrestling contract reminds Baroni of post-college days prior to joining the UFC when he contemplated a pro-wrestling career. There was a premium on size those days. That’s changed now, so the 5-foot-10 boxer-wrestler believes “it’s a no-brainer when it’s said and done” while calling attention to his tuned physique for his age.

The entrances, fanfare and talking of pro wrestling is a sizeable chunk of what Baroni enjoys about MMA’s entertainment factor.

“It’d be just like a real fight except that there’d be no stress about the outcome,” he said. “It is fun being a professional fighter, but [expletive], it sucks [with] the stress (of) you gotta win or you get half your money and [expletive] like that. It’s really stressful. It takes a lot of the fun out of it. I think pro wrestling would be the fun part – only the fun part.”